Simulation
by DutchWriters2
Summary: XANA did it - he took over France, is expanding to the rest of the world. The Lyoko Warriors got separated, and five months later, the genius has called them back to the old factory. But will they answer, or will they perish under XANA's tyrannic rule? Rated T for a reason! Also Hurt/Comfort JxA, YxU
1. Trailer

**Trailer:**

* * *

_[static]_

The screen view is fixed. Before the camera, a teenage boy with blonde hair and glasses stood in an environment which could not be identified at the moment. Behind him, some machine was linked to another person – a girl with pink hair, to be exact. She seemed to be in some sort of coma.

"Is it rolling?" a male voice said, from next to the blonde boy, out of the camera's view.

"Yes, it is, Jim." the blonde boy told 'Jim'.

"Well, do what you gotta do, Belpois," Jim said to the blonde boy, better known as Jeremy Belpois. He breathed in, and out, before finally speaking up.

"Here I go…"

_[screen fades to black] [insert soundtrack: Heartbroken]_

_**(voice-over Jeremy) Like all of you know, France and some neighboring lands have been under the tyrannic rule of XANA for five months, which some of you may know as the virus affecting the human ruler William.**_ A young, Japanese boy was getting hit by William, for disobeying his ultimate leader – he kept a giant bruise as reminder. _**I should have informed you earlier only five of us knew him earlier and fought him. We could only delay his arrival here…**_

Thousands of Kankrelats, Bloks, Megatanks, Hornets, Krabs and Tarantulas crawled around many parts of the land. Few free people were hiding for these horrible mindless mechanical monsters. The others were shipped off to far-off places, sold as slaves or, for the people living in and around Kadic, being held prisoner.

A boy with black hair like a mustache and glasses and a pretty girl with long black hair watched how five Kankrelats passed them. The girl almost made some noise, and she and the boy thought of their friend, who was close to them and had no idea there were Kankrelats crawlig his way.

A boy, with blonde/purple hair looked up, to see that the Megatank made the roof come down. He quickly looked around, searching for any way out, but there wasn't… the last thing he could ever do, was scream for what was about to happen. He could faintly hear a dog barking – his little diggity dog.

_**But this war isn't over yet.**__ [insert soundtrack: __Lyoko Rebirth__] __**If you see this, come over to the old factory close to Kadic Academy immediately. I will not move, even if you get there within years. If XANA wants me out of here, he'll have to kill me. **_A Japanese girl and a boy with brown hair and a wound on his leg are now watching this message. The girl sometimes looked over to the small prison for the Kadic residents, trying to catch a glimpse of her brother and the ruler/boy that had been interested in her.

_**Yes, I know the path to the old factory will be difficult, coming close to the very core of XANA reinforcements,**_ The black-haired boy and girl from earlier, with another ginger boy, who was taller and both black-haired kid, were surrounded by four Tarantulas. _**but they won't find us this close**_ _**to him. I don't tel you must come here, it's optional. If you want to, just come. If not, well… you all are free to go wherever you want…**_

"...but remember, that if you ever need help, we're never far away. Don't lose faith in the Lyoko Warriors." Jeremy finished.

"Where did you get that name from?" Jim asked, referring to Jeremy's unknown "Lyoko Warriors". Jeremy looked to his left, to where Jim was standing.

"XANA was from Lyoko, Jim. We were the Lyoko Warriors, unofficially." Jeremy shrugged, not saying specifically who the Lyoko Warriors who he was referring to were. He softly mumbled something, the camera not recording this words anymore. _I wished this was a simulation._

…

Static appeared on the small screen at the Japanese girl and brown-haired boy. He looked at her.

"What will you do, Yumi?" The boy asked her. Yumi looked from the small screen of her phone to the prison, where she had caught a glimpse of Hiroki, her younger brother. Finally, after some minutes, she had made her decision.

"I don't know, Ulrich…" he looked at her. Oh, if they were in other, happier circumstances… he remembered the day XANA took over, and made his hand into a fist. He had already lost his best friend, his friend/crush couldn't just lose her brother.

"First Hiroki, then Jeremy," Ulrich told her, making the decision for her.

**This is all just the cold hard reality…**

**Simulation**

**Coming 25th December to Fanfiction**

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**So, that was the trailer: Some dialog might change in the actual story, for some scenes might be less/more detailed, or even not seen at all. As said above, first chapter will be posted on December 25th, because my exams start within 3 days, and I hope you can patiently wait for the first chapter to come. First CL story, second on this site. ****Please review; I'd like to know if this idea is worth writing or not.**

**-DutchWriters2**


	2. How It Began

**Chapter 1: How it Began**

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Whatever happened before, it didn't matter, for it made way for a very familiar scene, which sometimes haunted Elisabeth 'Sissi' Delmas 'till depression. The scene came up less frequent as the time flew, but still, sometimes, the nightmare appeared when she needed it last. It was the worst she's ever had, and it was even worse to know that she had lived through it, before she started having nightmares about it. For it was also the very last time they saw one of the few Kadic students that died on the first day of the invasion.

_She was in Kadic Academy, at the ground floor of the living building. They had barricaded the door, to prevent those monsters walked right in. Outside, it was total chaos – the silent had been replaced for constant screaming and shots of those freaky red lasers that hit Sissi's right arm. Most students laid on the ground, unconscious, just like few students. In the building itself, along with Sissi, were two more students that fled in there. She knew these people all too well, for it were Odd Della Robbia and Milly Solovieff. Milly was hiding behind Sissi, while Odd pushed his scrawny body against the barricade, to keep it up. Milly was shaking from head to toe, fearing she wouldn't make the morning. The monsters had just started to attack the building._

_"W-What is happening?" Milly managed to say. Sissi tried to say something, but she couldn't – she was also scared as hell. Before Odd could answer, the something that has been trying to break in, hit the door again. She heard how Odd hissed "Stupid Megatank." and then said aloud "When they start using their laser, I'm done for!" She wondered how he could sound so… not scared. As if everything will be okay if this was over. But when was it over? And she looked at him, eyes filled with anger – he sounded very egoistic, and she knew how it sounded. Milly didn't react._

_"What do you mean, you are done for? Forgotten we are here too?" Sissi forced herself to say 'we' instead of 'I', not to make Milly worry more. Odd turned to Sissi, and he seemed calm – too calm for something so terribly happening now. And Odd didn't really seem the type to keep calm when something invaded their home grounds._  
_"I didn't, but you don't understand!" she heard he was trying not to scream at her – maybe he wasn't that calm after all, "I don't know what'll happen to you two, you might as well be lucky!" he turned his head to the barricade, "but if XANA breaks in… Let's just say we've met before, and I don't think he likes me. He'd rather get rid of me forever than to save me." The thing he called a Megatank tried to break open the door once more, and Odd raced back to the barricade. It didn't seem like it would hold any longer._

_Which was the last motivation Sissi needed to get herself and Milly out of there. She grabbed the young girl's hand, and pulled her upstairs. She knew her way around there very well. She's lived in this building for almost three years, and memories flashed through her head. Memories of days where she only would worry about which clothes to put on tomorrow, and how to seduce the love of her life. Running to the stairs, which would lead them to the roof, the two girls stumbled when the building started shaking. The unknown 'Megatank' had probably entered the building – and had come to Odd. Sissi grabbed Milly's arm and decided not to let go of it until they were safe and sound. They had reached the roof within a few minutes._

_Their jaws fell open of astonishment._

_It seemed as if the monster count had doubled since she last was outside. The building was surrounded by a lot of those monsters – cockroaches, crabs, blocs, black balls, flies, strange four-legged ones… All with that strange eye onto it. A lot of them stood (or flew) ready to fire on the two girls, but they didn't. Besides, they were aiming for the door of the building, where Odd and that 'Megatank' were still 'fighting'. It really went bad for him down there, just like for everyone else in a range of a few kilometers. Where were the police forces when you needed them?_

_Suddenly, something happened. Something she hadn't thought would happen this soon. The building started to tremble, and Sissi and Milly lost their balance for a few seconds. It felt as if it was about to collapse. Sissi guessed it was because of that so-called 'Megatank', which could mean that Odd… she did not want to finish that particular thought. If possible, Milly trembled as much as the building itself. They could just keep their balance._

_From above, those flies had decided that Sissi and Milly were their newest target, and tried to shoot them. As always, they missed almost all of their shots. Being encouraged by these type of monsters, and by the building that seriously trembled, Sissi had made a decision she didn't like, and she knew Milly wouldn't like it as well._

_"We jump," she said, and she had scared Milly some more with these two simple words._

_"What?"_

_"If we don't, we'll die for sure!" Just a guess. The building could collapse any moment, those flies tried to kill them from above, and Sissi herself was scared as hell. So you'd understand if she was exaggerating. She grabbed Milly's arm, and the two of them jumped off the building. The falling didn't seem to stop, and for a while, she felt like she was flying. The feeling didn't stay long, and disappeared completely when she hit a rough, hard surface. Her left leg hurt terribly, and next to her, she heard how Milly was sobbing. Sissi released her breath when she heard the sobbing – at least she had the confirmation that Milly was still alive. She wasn't as mean as everyone thought she was, even if only Herve and Nicholas knew her like she truly was. Eventually, Sissi noticed she had her eyes still closed, and opened them._  
_Even though they had landed onto something solid, they were moving. Her eyes widened out of fear, and pushed herself up to her knees with her arms. That was when she finally realized they've landed on top of one of those gigantic crabs; the reason why Milly was sobbing so loudly. She tried not to move at all, hoping the crab hadn't noticed its passengers, but Sissi wasn't sure about it – it would surely have noticed Milly's sobs._

_The crab moved over to one of the bigger groups of… well, prisoners, and dumped Sissi and Milly at the edge of the group of scared students. Sissi recognized Theo Gauthier and his sister, Herve, Emily and the younger brother of Yumi, Hiroki. She didn't know anyone else as good as she did with those, except maybe their French teacher. Now, Sissi looked around the group once more. Where was her father? Was he alright? How would Jim handle this invasion? Even seeing Mrs. Hertz would be great, but she wasn't anywhere in sight._

_A big, cracking sound blocked out all conversations, and all heads turned to the source of the noise. The buzzing was quickly silenced as they heard and saw how the building Sissi and Milly had just jumped off couldn't hold it anymore, and collapsed. Sissi heard how Milly restarted the sobbing and crying, and wished she could do that, too. Crying. But the tears wouldn't come, not even when she realized something. Odd is still inside, she thought, nobody can survive something like that. And she put two and two together. Odd is still inside. Odd can't survive something like that._

_Odd hadn't survived that._

_Odd is dead._

_Oh, how she wished she just were in Milly's position. That way, she would be able to cry and not being bothered by everyone. But she wasn't; she was Sissi Delmas, daughter of the principal, well known and beloved girl, and she couldn't afford to show weakness. If they saw that the daughter of the man who had complete control over them during school hours gave up on the situation, they would lose courage and hope as well, and no 'rebel' would be born from the prisoners, to give the latter back their freedom. So, Sissi had to stay strong._

_But why did she feel so weak and little, then?_

_The blocks and crabs surrounding them suddenly made a path for a young man walking towards them, holding a wicked sword. When he came closer, Sissi recognized him as William. Dumb William who had questioned simple expressions was a traitor! On his costume, he also had that strange eye which was present on all monsters. She could see how Hiroki made his hands into fists. Most of them gasped, or stared at him, surprised._

_And when William looked over them with an evil yet satisfying smile, Sissi could feel he would do something to them, and she knew she wouldn't like it at all._

Normally, it always ended with Odd being crushed down, or when they were taken to the initial camp. But it mostly never stopped when William locked his emotionless eyes with Sissi's, and Sissi always hoped if she had the nightmare, that it wouldn't end with William's eyes fresh in her memory. Yet, she couldn't avoid the fact that it would happen, sometimes. And sometimes, she hoped that when she woke up, she would wake up in a world where all problems were solved, where she didn't have to hide to live. Where she could just walk out without having to worry if some of those monsters were seeing her. Where she could just, like all of France, be free again.

But she never would. She'd always have to hide to survive. And she wouldn't possibly know what to do if this virus – this "XANA" - were finally gone, just 'cause she got used to the hard cruel world she learned to live in.

* * *

As always, she roughly woke up from the nightmare. She couldn't tell how late it was, but it should at least be nine o'clock in the morning. They – Sissi, Herve and Nicholas, had been lucky it hadn't rained all night. It was always nicer when it doesn't rain, and because all three of them did not like waking up and find that the world around them is wet, and probably all of their few possessions too.

Sissi found Herve sitting next to a fire. It wasn't a big fire, but it had to do to keep the November cold away. Sissi disliked October, but hated December even more. And most of all, the time in between. Because it was very cold then. As if on cue, Herve looked at her. As if he would confirm what Sissi hadn't noticed up to now, and that is Nicholas. He wasn't nowhere in sight. Off course he wasn't – he liked fishing in the morning and at night. Thought it was much relaxing in those hours. And he sometimes complained of the water being plain cold, but soon shut up about the topic. He didn't say much these days. And with that, less than he normally would.

Herve turned his head back to the fire, staring right into it. Sissi wondered why he did that, until she could complete the analysis – Herve was hiding something. Normally, he would greet her with a "Good morning, Sissi." and send her a smile, however he felt that day. She frowned – it wasn't nice to hide something from another, not in their situation. They'd better share all secrets, to keep the trust within their group. If the trust is broken, it is very hard to rebuilt, and they would eventually kick the secretive one out, even if they knew that the secretive can't survive on his own.

Right when she wanted to say something, she stopped. She had learned all natural sounds since living here, but the one she heard now, was not something they would hear in the forest. No, they would better fit in a more civilized environment. Something like, you know, a prison at what once was school ground?  
Herve stood up, once he heard the sound. "Kankrelats," he said, correctly identifying the noise these Kankrelats made. Herve was the best in recognizing the noise the monsters made when going somewhere. Sissi guessed either a group of Kankrelats or Bloks. The two packed their things as quickly as they could – along with Nicholas' – and they hid in the bushes. They would never stop at some place where it was open, like a field. A closed environment became handy in many situations, but most of all as hiding place for when they couldn't get away in time. As they lay down there, Sissi noticed they forgot to dim the fire. Not that smart. Normally Herve would take care of that!

Sissi heard the Kankrelats coming closer and closer, until the point they passed Herve and Sissi at four feet. When she couldn't see them, she knew perfectly how they looked like. They might be considered the weakest land creatures XANA produces, but if you were hit a few times, it could leave some nasty wounds.

She held her breath when one of them passed her at one feet maximum. For a moment, she panicked. They had already avoided more Kankrelats in the past, but none of them had ever come this close to her. She tried not to scream, or make any noise. If she moved or mad noise, the monsters would find them. Kankrelats had the reputation to be incompetent searchers, as they only went for human movement or human noise, which was the main reason they hadn't noticed the small fire they passed.

Only when they couldn't hear the Kankrelats anymore, Sissi and Herve stood up and she sighed. They were passed unnoticed, but that didn't mean they would have time to hide next time. And somehow, the longer they stayed, the more monsters crossed their paths. Which was strange, because at the beginning of their journey they would only cross the first monster after two weeks.

Herve helped Sissi to get up, and she could see in his eyes that he was feeling guilty about something. He's feeling guilty because of what's happening, Sissi thought, he's feeling guilty because he rescued us.

Because of Herve they were kind of outlaws, but because of Herve, they could also escape from that prison, that Kadic slave camp. From the first week, Herve had a plan – pretend to have sworn loyalty to XANA, as one out of many. But first, he had to gain his trust completely. The boy seemed very useful to XANA, for he was the one to give the people weapons. Soon, he got the responsibility to give these prisoners the 'punishments they deserved'. He let Laura Gauthier hang because of treason, alongside her brother, even if Theo hadn't done anything but trying to keep his big sis out of trouble. He let Sissi starve for three days and sentenced Nicholas to five hits with a whip, and if he was sorry, he did gain XANA's trust by punishing his closest friends. Not a week after that, he took some rations, weaponry, medics, got to his two friends and escaped in the night. But, apparently, XANA had expected it, because they were chased monsters immediately.

They had left Kadic prison/Academy two months ago. Sissi had been a strong girl, and Nicholas' back healed over time, but it still hurt when he bowed and his two friends told him he'd better not do something intensive. Instead of doing what he can't do, he took his fishing hook and bait and turned his hobby into a source for food, even if they barely knew how to prepare it.

Herve clapped in his hands in front of Sissi's face, as he saw that she had spaced out. "Sissi, you okay?" he said with a worried voice. Sissi nodded. He became a very good friend instead of a "henchman", but he sometimes still was a bit too worried, especially when it was Sissi who was 'in danger'.

"What do you think? Off course I'm okay!" she said. She meant it to come over friendly, but she couldn't help but sound harsh. She was still used to command the two boys around, and old habits don't really fade soon. Her voice didn't seem to realize they were equal now, and Herve grinned at her response – it reminded him of those times when they needn't worry.

"We need to move, y' know?" Herve said, en Sissi, for once, agreed with the 'dork'. They really needed to move now, if they didn't want to be found by the virus. They were lucky Kankrelats only attacked when seeing something human, and not when they passed through some refugees' camp. They were already packing their things, (out of it's hiding place) until they heard a very loud scream. Herve and Sissi didn't move. The group of five had found a person. How stupid could someone be! It couldn't have been a girl screaming, it was too low for that. That was already enough proof to confirm what both kids were thinking.

Nicholas. He was still out there, fishing, and the scream came from the same direction Nicholas usually went – to the river. No, not Nicholas. Please, not Nicholas. Sissi never thought she would hope Nicholas would still be… okay. How come they hadn't thought about how Nicholas could be an easy target for the Kankrelats. With their things, they started running. Ten minutes had passed since they heard the Kankrelats come near, which was enough time for them to reach the river and shoot the poor Nicholas with one hit, straight into the bloody cold water. It also was unfair that he was slightly deaf at his left ear, which made it almost impossible to hear the Kankrelats come.

Sissi started to run faster. She had seen the very beginning of the invasion. She had seen the cruel, emotionless look in William's eyes. She had seen how most of her classmates were being tortured, just because XANA could, and how many died of starvation. She witnessed the deaths of Laura and Theo Gauthier. She remembered how Odd refused to give up and the building – along with Odd under it – collapsed. No, she did not want to lose Nicholas, too.

Suddenly, she stopped running, en Herve ran straight into her. Herve put a step aside when Sissi, strangely enough, not moved, and his mouth opened in surprise. In front of them, mechanical parts of those Kankrelats were spread over this part of the forest. Somebody must have killed them. But it could impossibly be Nicholas, because 1) he didn't posses the right weapon to do so, and 2) he couldn't win a fight against XANA's monsters, or else at least one should still be alive. Conclusion: to Sissi, it all didn't make much sense. If Nicholas did this, he should be dead. If he didn't, someone else fought the Kankrelats. But that was impossible, since Sissi, Herve and Nicholas were the only refugees who wandered through the woods.

Her knees were trembling, and soon her whole body. The black at the edge of her sight started closing in on her sight, ready to blind her completely. Herve said something, but his voice sounded distant, even if he was standing right next to her. For now, she couldn't take it anymore. Her sight and hearing seemed to be taken away, and she felt how her legs couldn't hold her anymore. Somebody caught her and she didn't remember if he lay her on the ground or not.

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**Aaaaaaaaaand... that was the first chapter! Who destroyed the Kankrelats? Is Nicholas dead or not? Will Sissi ever forget what happened to Odd? And why am I asking you all these questions? You'll read it in chapter two: _How people hope_ on the 2nd of January! On with the reviews:**

**Iforgottologin** (Why, thank you! Hope you can wait few more days for next chappie)

**BabyBird101 **(Thanks! both for reviewing and reading!) _(= goes for everyone who reads/reviews/favorites/follows)_

**See ya next time, merry christmas and a happy new year!**

**-DutchWriters2**


	3. How People Hope

**Chapter 2: How People hope**

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Hiroki Ishiyama hated his life.

From his birth he was living in the shadow of his big sister, Yumi. Even though his parents did not intended to pick favorites, to him it seemed very clear who they preferred as child. At his own, unique way he had tried to get their attention, but it hadn't worked. And all those times he was just kidding with Yumi around, he just wanted to make their sibling-bond stronger, even if it most of the time resulted in small fights. And we're not even talking about school. His very best in class was almost always getting a C, his teachers didn't seem to like him and his best friend Johnny had a crush on his big sis. He started to believe Johnny only was hanging around with him because of that crush. In short, his life wasn't that great.

And then the invasion. Why did it have to start in his classroom? Why not another's? Maybe he could have fled if it started somewhere else, he could have warned someone their school was in danger and he could have helped someone. Instead, a hole was blasted in their wall, the class had been separated in two groups and were the groups surrounded by creatures that looked like crabs and blocks. The only moment when he breathed in relief was when he noticed that Milly Solovieff still was physically alright.

He sometimes compared the invasion with an apocalypse. In which the artificial intelligence called XANA started it, in which his monsters were compared to the well-known zombies, and with humanity as the survivors looking for a cure. Well, _almost_ all of humanity. He was shocked when he got to know that simple, dumb William was working for XANA all those time. And he didn't like the fact that William once was hitting on his sister. He had balled his fists, but hadn't done anything else but glaring – that had been enough to show his anger.

The first day Sissi thought of a rebel, and it was time to become that rebel who challenges XANA.

* * *

Hiroki walked around in the open air at the grounds of 'Kadic Prison', where he normally would run on the course for his PE teacher, Jim. Too bad this was the only terrain where the 'prisoners' were allowed to go, and it was guarded very heavily. In every corner of the terrain waited a Megatank, every forty feet was a Blok on guard duty, and in between were Krabs walking around. Some Hornets kept an eye on them from the air. The buildings was the terrain of the many Kankrelats. It didn't help that most of the prisoners would betray their rebelling friends for a bit more food or medicines. Almost everyone was feeling ill or sick, and not everyone could be treated well or had the will to fight the illness. Three weeks ago, Johnny had passed away by a simple fever. They were lucky XANA let them bury their dead ones. Now he was thinking about it…

Hiroki put his hands in his pocket, and touched the package in his right pocket for a second. It was still there, and as long as he got it, he had the chance to be caught with it and be killed if they would properly search his 'room'. It was risky and dangerous, but if he could help people with it, he would gladly take the risks.

Eventually, Hiroki found who he was looking for. He tapped on her shoulder, and she turned around to face the young Japanese boy. Milly Solovieff breathed in relief when it was just Hiroki, and she sent him a shy smile. Hiroki smiled spontaneously, even though they didn't really have a reason to be smiling in this misery, and he thought his cheeks were getting red. They could smile for hope, Hiroki knew, but just a few still hoped for a better future, with Hiroki himself being one of those few.

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked her. He asked her twice a day, at the beginning and end of the day, even when it got very annoying, but he really wanted to know. She could always get sick, and so could Hiroki. Some people were starting to follow him, just because it was rumoured he couldn't get sick while others had been ill twice in these five months of hell. But after a while, they would just leave him be, because he Always reacted a bit grumpy. They didn't now what Hiroki did in his free time, and sometimes during the nights.

Just when Milly wanted to answer, she sneezed. "Just what I was afraid of," he said, and Milly ttried to smile at him. She didn't look very healthy either.

"Don't worry, Hiroki, it'll be over soon." Hiroki nodded, not very convinced. _You could very well die, Milly, how can I not worry?_ She could just as well sink through her knees and share the same fate as Johnny and her best friend, Tamiya. Now the two only had each other, and they didn't want the other to be left alone in this cruel world.

"Meet me in ten minutes at the old chemistry classroom. You know where it is?" Milly nodded, and Hiroki already knew it would take a little longer for her to get there because of her fear for XANA's monsters. Hiroki smiled again at her, "Okay, I'll see you there," and he walked past her. In another situation he would appear strange. But at the moment, it was strange to have a conversation that took longer than a few minutes. Where were the times when conversations took longer than an hour? Hiroki sometimes even missed detention time with Jim.

Before he went to the od chemistry classroom, he needed to go to his room first. He'd better take enough with him, if Milly were to ask for more. He didn't worry about being seen, since he's done this many times before. With the thought that he, the loudest boy from his year, walked around successfully stealthy, he opened the door to his room. Well, 'room' was a word too big for the space. It was just a small space, five feet to five feet, and especially uncomfortable. The door wasn't even a real door, just a rug hanging for the entrance.

Hiroki walked in his space, and counted the tiles on the ground. Two up, one to the left, beginning at the western corner. He took away that tile and a small space appeared – filled with the same packages as there was one in Hiroki's pocket. He took one out if the space, and placed the tile back where it belonged, and put the package in the other pocket. He felt safer now he had one in both pockets with the same weight, along with a smaller chance to get caught for being suspicious. When he was sure it couldn't fall out, he took off to the place what once was called the chemistry classroom.

Once he had climbed up the stairs, he was being less careful – he knew not much monsters were walking around on this first floor, because they just couldn't get to the top of the staircase. With the exception of Hornets, who could fly, Tarantulas, who had the legs to actually be able to climb the stairs, and William, who simply was human. While he walked to that classroom, he remembered the day and reason why he started to give survival packages to those who really needed them.

* * *

_September 24th, three months after the invasion. Hiroki was trembling when he was taken to the Captain of Punishments (Herve Pichon) by two Bloks. First, it were two Kankrelats, but he had reacted that those were weak, so he ended up being guarded by two Bloks instead. Before he was pushed into the building, he saw how Johnny, Tamiya and Milly were watching. He would have smiled if the Bloks weren't pushing him._

_And now, he was standing in front of the door of the traitor, the person who let many people, of all ages, die or punishes them, just like he did with his two oldest friends a few days ago. He was pushed inside, and noticed the door locked itself automatically. The two Bloks were way too big to fit in the door, so they waited outside. The traitor's room wasn't much bigger than the prisoners', but it was very different. Pichon had a real bed, a chair and a small table, with pen and paper. Hiroki became jealous of him, just because of this room – most prisoners didn't even have a real mattress._

_Herve looked up. Hiroki saw the traitor had a black eye, and he also seemed very tired. He probably also didn't have much time to comb his hair this morning. His eyes may look like he worried about something, but he probably wasn't. He stood up, and Hiroki did one step back, unintentionally. You just couldn't trust Herve Pichon anymore, from the moment he decided to serve the tyrant, who was hiding inside of William Dunbar._

_"No Kankrelats?" Herve wondered, and Hiroki shook his head. He had decided not to say a word in front of the traitor. If somebody should be hanged, it should be that traitor Pichon. 'That traitor' came closer to him, and Hiroki panicked when he felt the wall in his back. Herve, who didn't seem to care, just shrugged._

_"Kankrelats, Bloks, doesn't matter – they're just as dumb as the one controlling them." Hiroki was surprised by this comment. You should think he would be praising his colleagues, if they even could be called colleagues, because the monsters were nothing more than slaves to XANA, including William. He raised an eyebrow._

_"What?"_

_"They'll never come in here, because they can't or won't, and they certainly don't have ears, so we can have a private talk on our own without anyone hearing it." Out of all situations Hiroki thought up, this one wasn't part of it: Pichon wants to talk, without anybody else listening. To Hiroki, it didn't make sense, and Herve sat down on his bed. The Japanese boy stood still, pressed against the wall, didn't want to sit on the chair, that close to the traitor. He did not trust Herve. Then, Herve smiled, as if he read Hiroki's thoughts. It was a very strange sight to see the nerd smile._

_"Just sit down. If it were a trap, you would've been caught when you entered the room." Hiroki let the words sink in, before he slowly made way to the chair. He still did not trust it. He gasped in relief when he eventually sat down on the chair. It had felt like ages since he last sat down on a chair, and he enjoyed it. He'd never thought he would miss a simple chair, but it had been possible._

_"About XANA," Pichon started, and Hiroki panicked again, while the traitor was looking at the door, "I don't trust it. William seems to be everywhere at once, like the monsters. It is good at being a tyrant, no doubt about that." It was interesting to know what the bad Herve Pichon thought about his master, but he probably knew he was taking a big risk here – Hiroki could just as easily tell his friends, and the news would spread very quickly, so even William/XANA got to know and he would be hanged for treason. That's what happened to the Gauthier siblings. Why should he even tell somebody? It's much easier to keep silent than saying your thoughts in this world._

_"What I'm trying to tell you," Herve continued, "all of XANA's monsters and lieutenants have a lot of advantages the prisoners don't. We get more food, water, medicines while they try to survive inhuman situations…" Hiroki wanted to shout he's part of the problem, but he didn't. Instead, he told the so-called traitor something else._

_"Took you long enough to notice we're dying! We are dying, damn it, and the only thing you do is leaning back and watch innocent people die!"_

_"That is a lie," Herve said, trying not to get angry._

_"No, it's not! You kill so-called traitors, but they were innocent! Heck, you even manage to give the traitors their weaponry! I bet you hid yours somewhere in this room." For a few seconds, an uncomfortable silence hung between the two ex-Kadic students, before Herve started to talk again, as in Hiroki had never screamed to him. He probably could do this due to William/XANA screaming at the boy all the time. The tyrant wasn't know for being nice to his human followers._

_"There are some white packages hidden in the bookcase in the chemistry classroom at the first floor. In those packages, you could find some basic stuff to survive, like food, medicines, clear water. There are brought more of it every second Thursday, and I'm taking all out of it the next day, and I give them away, in the form of visits to me. The only monsters who could get there are Hornets, Tarantulas and William, because they can't be hindered by the stairs. Even though you don't see them, still be careful there." Hiroki looked at him, surprised._

_"And why do you tell me?" Herve shrugged._

_"You look like a smart kid to me, who knows what to do with it and when," he threw one of those white packages at Hiroki, who caught it, and stood up, "use them well." Herve opened the door, and finally Hiroki could escape the traitor, who didn't really seemed a traitor anymore. He noticed the Bloks were gone, too, and instead of returning to his friends, he walked up the stairs, to the first floor Herve had told him about._

_As silent and careful as he could, he walked through the corridor. If he was caught, he could get a really bad punishment, and a few wounds that couldn't heal without the help of medicines. For a moment, he made some noise, and which were mere seconds in reality, seemed to take hours. When he finally dared to move again, he walked a bit faster to the chemistry classroom, until he stood in front of its door. He still didn't trust it. What if it is a trap?_

_If it were a trap, you would've been caught already, a small voice in his head said, and Hiroki opened the door, an quickly closed it again. The classroom looked exactly like it did when he came here to get the last lesson chemistry of the year. He walked to the bookcase, carefully opened it and smiled when he saw the white packages in there. Herve hadn't lied, which meant he probably wasn't a computerloving traitor. So Hiroki didn't hesitate anymore and took the packages to his small space so he could hide them under the loose tile he found a while ago._

_Next day, it was rumored the Captain of Punishments escaped the prison with his friends, Sissi and Nicholas._

Man, those were good times.

He didn't hesitate when standing in front of the door of the classroom. He entered immediately without standing too long in front of the door – he knew that if that happened, he sure would be caught. And, to his surprise, Milly was already in the classroom. He just stood still when Milly ran up to him and hugged him. It took him a moment to register what happened, and then hugged her back. He didn't know why Milly was sobbing now, and he didn't need to know at the moment, but he was sure he would let her smile if she got such a package. But in the meantime, he enjoyed holding Milly like this.

Yeah, maybe deep down inside Hiroki might have some small feelings for her… alright, he was hopelessly in love, which is the biggest reason why he would want her to have one. He would've given her a package anyway.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, noticing that Milly was trembling.

"In the h-hallway… T-Taranttula… It almost s-saw me…" That explained a lot. Under the older kids, she was known as the weakling of the school, but the fact that she actually dared to come here, told otherwise, and Hiroki – who was one year younger than Milly – found this 'weak' a great character trait. She shows her fear, so she shows her true self. Many macho-men are also afraid, but they don't show it, because they know they'll leave him if he shows weakness. Those are friends because of lies, while the whole school knew Milly had a lot of fears. Her friends care about her, even with the fears, a relationship which isn't built up with lies.

"Calm down, Milly," he said, "it's all gonna be okay." That was the moment when Hiroki noticed how fragile she was, like all others. The world they now lived in could make the most brave men cry, could make people not eat things that come out of the sea anymore (Krabs). And Hiroki was one of those until he could increase his confidence. Milly could be placed at the top of fragility, even though she's more scared than others.

_I need to protect her,_ Hiroki thought, _or else she'll die soon._ And thus, he swore he'd protect her at all times from XANA, its monsters and William, whatever might happen. She couldn't do it alone, he knew, and needed someone to take care of her. And since Johny and Tamiya were now at a better place, Hiroki had to do it, and with pleasure.

"I got something for you," he said when he released her, and he took one of those packages out of his pocket, "This is all you might need: extra food, water, medicines. You could heal, and I hope you'll hide it from the monsters," Milly's eyes widened, and looked at the package as if it were a bomb.

"I can't take this," she said, giving it back to him. Hiroki now noticed that she still was trembling – it wasn't from the temporary scariness, but from whatever she was suffering. He shook his head.

"Just take it. You need it more than me now." He pushed it back in her hands, and now she didn't give it back to the Japanese boy. She put it in her pocket, silently, and looked back up at him.

"What if we get caught?" she asked. Hiroki put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We won't ever get caught," He said, walked to the door, opened it and he walked through the corridor, stealthily, to which Milly followed his example. It went better after ten/twenty feet, and it grew more silent in the corridor. Just twenty more feet, and then they reached the stairs, safe from the dangers the first floor held. Like, something that aimed at Hiroki but hit the wall instead, missing his head with just a few inches. He turned around and faced two Tarantulas that definitely weren't there in the first place. Without thinking, he grabbed Milly's arm and started running. The monsters followed, and when Hiroki stood on top of the stairs, he stopped. He had no choice – there were two Bloks and a Megatank waiting for them. They were closed in. if he could, Hiroki would hit himself for being so inattentive!

Behind him, he heard footsteps, and he could already guess who it was, even without turning around. William, who heard noise coming from the first floor, where he had a room for himself, with the chemistry classroom two doors at his right. _Man, I'm stupid, _Hiroki thought, _finish me quick, but let Milly be – she's done nothing._

"Got you," William said with his xanafied voice, and Hiroki hung his head.

* * *

**Busted! I hope all of you guys have had some great Christmas and New Year. What's William gonna do? When will Milly realize Hiroki's feelings for her? Who do you think we'll see next chapter? I've yet to reveal two POV's of the stort. Leave your guesses in reviews - or don't tell them at all, if you don't want to review. You'll read it in chapter**** three: _How it continued_ on the 9th of January! On with the reviews:**

**Absinok** (Thanks, thanks, I really needed Jim to help them. The Warriors (+Herve, Sissi and Nicholas) are being hunted down and have a chance to be killed as well. I mentioned Aelita in the trailer (first part), though not by name, same with Odd, Herve, Nicholas, Sissi and Hiroki)

**See ya next time!**

**-DutchWriters2**


	4. How It Continued

**Chapter 3: How it continued**

* * *

Everything he knew, and what he had yet to know, was a lie.

Or, at least, that's what Ulrich Stern hoped every time he woke up. He knew the world was filled with XANA's monsters. He knew they couldn't have stopped William. He knew many had fled, and that even more were captured at Kadic. He knew France and neighboring lands were being cut out from the outside world, because the monsters stopped everyone who wanted to pass the borders. He knew many good people had died, possibly including his best friend. He knew he would join these good people if he didn't do something soon.

And maybe it was all partly Ulrich's fault. Not because of what he did, but because of what he _didn't _do. He should have fought William man to man instead of fleeing with Yumi. He should have stayed – he should have been the distraction. And Odd shouldn't have stayed behind – then he would have been sure what happened to his friend, when he now only could guess what happened. At least he knew Jeremy and Aelita were alive, even if he'd seen them just one month ago.

Anyway, he thought he was to blame for a lot of things that didn't happen, or did happen with consequences. And he didn't like the fact he couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

_Ulrich and Yumi, with whom he ran through the forest and city for the last four months, were now sprinting as fast as they could, following the river/canal. They seemed in a rush, but somehow, they weren't. They could run calmly, as long as the Kankrelats didn't come any closer. Even though they ran as fast as they could, this wasn't Lyoko, where they had an unstoppable amount of energy. But this was the real world, meaning they were slowly growing tired because of their lack of training._

_"Told you we shouldn't leave the woods!" Ulrich shouted, shaking his head. Yumi was the reason they were being chased. No answer. He was slowly getting used to it, no answer when she was thinking or just plain emotional. They didn't go into the city for food or drinks, they had still plenty, but because of Yumi's younger brother, Hiroki. They were trying out a new route to go and spy on the Kadic Prison, to see if Hiroki was still alive._

_"Look, the factory!" Yumi pointed to the building in the middle of the canal, being bound to the mainland by a single bridge. Just a few 100 feet to the bridge, then passing it and then, they would be in safety, the two decided at the same moment. Okay, they haven't been going there for like four months, but they knew the place better than the monsters, Ulrich ran possibly even faster, And Yumi did the same, until he heard a soft buzzing behind them he could only identify as the Hornets._

_The road made way for the steel bridge when the two ran around the corner and entered the bridge. Their footsteps sounded too loud, just like the sound of the following Kankrelats. When the duo saw the red lasers hit the ground in front of them, they knew the monsters finally opened fire, especially the Hornets. As always, they shot too much without hitting anything, and just then a mosquito decided to sting Ulrich in his leg. Not the right time, he thought as they finally ran through the entrance of the factory. And old habit kicked in, and they reached out their hands to grab the rope, but there was no rope anymore._

_Ulrich didn't like falling, especially from this height. He and Yumi screamed, and you' know why – nobody liked falling twenty/thirty feet, most certainly not if you had vertigo, and even not when you were used to grabbing a rope and landing on your two feet after gliding down the rope._

_It was a pleasant surprise to find they landed on a small hill of pillows._

_Ulrich breathed in relief when he was certain he was alright. The relief soon was to be replaced by surprise – since when were there pillows in the factory? He looked at Yumi, who looked back at him, and the expression on her face told him how Yumi was wondering the same as him. The next question he wanted answered, was how these pillows got there with nobody in the factory, as far as they knew. They hadn't been there since the last attack before the invasion, and there were no pillows back then. The terrain of the factory could possibly be seen as Jeremy's terrain, since he was here most out of all five (six counting William) Lyoko Warriors, with the exception of Franz Hopper…_

_They had seen Jeremy fled in the direction of the factory… _

No,_ Ulrich told himself, _Jeremy isn't that stupid to hide at the literal birthplace of XANA, is he?_ But it seemed that, the last few days, he'd been wrong a lot of times, with the exception of the small chase from a few minutes ago. He looked up, and the monsters still hadn't entered the factory. From his position, he could see how a Hornet tried to break in, but was being held outside by a force field. And Ulrich knew he had been wrong once again as he noticed something was watching them._

_When he turned his head in their direction, one of the two disappeared, while the other just stood in his position, spying on the two intruders. Just then Yumi turned her head as well, and the second person disappeared as well. "Are you sure you saw something?" Yumi asked, who once again successfully guessed what Ulrich had been thinking. Ulrich nodded._

_"Yes. And now, let's get out of this." It was harder than they thought, and Ulrich guessed it took them at least six minutes. And it was surprisingly quiet in the factory, too quiet. It was always quiet in here, but this silence felt unnatural. Ulrich helped Yumi out of the pillow-hill, and noticed the small amount of blood on few pillows. And, he thought, they couldn't stay here any longer. He didn't trust the factory anymore, and he bet his head that those people were both possessed by XANA. This was home of the supercomputer, the place where the artificial intelligence had been created, and even if XANA didn't think this place was valuable, as he tried to destroy this multiple times, this still was a place filled with mysteries, secrets and, above all, dangers._

_That's why they pretended not to know something was sneaking up to them from behind their backs – you'd better surprise the enemy instead of running towards it like you're crazy, as Odd would have done if he were here. Yumi and Ulrich might not have had real weapons at that time, but that didn't mean they were easy preys. Yumi turned her head in such position she could see Ulrich, but not the thing sneaking up to them. Ulrich received the message with no trouble: you go first. Ulrich didn't protest – he'd become used to Yumi taking the lead. He balled his hands and closed his eyes, and his hearing took it over. Just ten feet… five feet… two feet…_

_…and Ulrich kicked behind him, and hit the thing that wanted to attack them. He turned towards the person, and so did Yumi, dealing the next blow in the person's stomach. The expected monster turned out to be an adult, a man, and he moaned as Yumi hit him. Ulrich dropped his position, surprised, and looked at the man. Surprisingly, he recognized the man's moan from the past. As Yumi kicked him again, and the man let out a moan again, Ulrich knew it for sure._

_"Jim?" Ulrich said, and Yumi stopped her hand just in time. She gave herself one second to study the man she's been attacking, to draw the same conclusion as Ulrich._

_"Jim!?" Ulrich wondered how they couldn't have recognized their old PE teacher Jim Morales when he crawled back onto his feet. It clearly was their Jim, even if he changed just a bit. Plus, there wasn't that much light, so that could've been another reason not to recognize him. In those four months, his hair had grown slightly, and a beard had started to grow. And, if Ulrich wasn't wrong, their PE teacher also lost some weight. Jim looked at them, and then widened them as he recognized them (finally)._

_"Stern? Ishiyama?" He wasn't going to call them Ulrich and Yumi, was he? "Nice to see you're still alive." Yumi smiled._

_"Nice to see you alive, too." She said._

_"Sorry we attacked, Jim. We thought you were a Blok," Ulrich apologized. Ever since the attack which made Ulrich and Odd temporary insane, he had called Jim sometimes a Blok in his thoughts. Jim looked around, as if he searched something._

_"Huh, I would've done the same in your position. And isn't Della Robbia with you?" Ulrich's face dropped. He'd wanted to ask Jim that question. But now he heard the question coming out of his mouth, he knew for sure Odd wasn't here, in the factory, where he could've gone too four months ago. But if he wasn't here, then where was he?_

_"No, he's not, we … we last saw him during the invasion." Ulrich bowed his head, and felt how Yumi put her hand onto his shoulder, as if to comfort him. Jim's mouth stood open, and it stayed that way until ten seconds after that, when he finally could say something._

_"Well, then he probably is at Kadic," he said, and Ulrich nodded. There was the possibility Odd would be captured on their old school grounds, yet one more reason to try and come closer to it without getting caught. Yet, Ulrich had this feeling, that told him Odd wasn't there, wasn't even alive anymore. If XANA would catch a Warrior, he wouldn't keep them alive._

_"No, I don't think he's being held captive," Ulrich said, looking at Yumi, as she noticed what Ulrich meant. XANA. If he had caught him before he could get to safety… they didn't want to think about that. Jim's face formed a grimace when he, after five minutes of silence, got what Ulrich meant with those words. He balled his fists._

_"He should try that with the people under my protection! They'll first have to go over my dead body, XANA's stupid monsters!" Suddenly, Yumi and Ulrich turned their heads toward their PE teacher, as if he'd said a bad word. Jim himself didn't know what was going on. Whatever he had said or done, it had surprised Stern and Ishiyama. He waited for a while, waiting for one of them to explain, but the two just kept staring. Yep, great tactic. "What?"_

_"You called him XANA," Ulrich noticed, and Jim shrugged._

_"So?"_

_"Most call him 'the virus'," Yumi clarified, "and others think William just made up XANA, made the monsters and wanted to take over the world, so-called being controlled by the made-up computer program. The only ones to call him XANA are the human traitors," her eyes widened, "and the Lyoko Warriors!" Ulrich knew what Yumi wanted to know. If Jim knew XANA's name, that should mean he was either a traitor or that Aelita and Jeremy were here. Jim frowned. He didn't know that name, the 'Lyoko Warriors', were those famous people?_

_"Lyoko Warriors?"_

_"Jim, is Jeremy or Aelita here? Or both?" Ulrich asked, completely ignoring Jim's question. Jim hadn't expected an answer, anyway. He just wondered who those Lyoko Warriors were. He shrugged again before answering Ulrich's question – even if it wasn't a direct answer, he just remembered something._

_"Oh yeah, that's right! Belpois is here too! He would want to know you two are here. I'll take you two to him!" Ulrich raised an eyebrow, and Yumi followed his example. It seemed as if Yumi would explode from anger._

_"And you didn't tell us earlier because…"_

_"I forgot," Jim said sheepishly, and they walked through the factory. They walked down by use of the stairs – Jim didn't even consider taking the elevator – and their route was long, much longer than Yumi and Ulrich could remember. It didn't seem to have an end, and at a certain moment, it felt like they had been walking in circles. Nobody talked, and except for Jim, who sometimes muttered a curse under his breath – as if he didn't know exactly where Jeremy was at this point. Eventually, Ulrich couldn't bear the silence anymore, and asked the question of which he wanted to know the answer for a long time._

_"What were you doing when it happened?" Jim shrugged._

_"Same as always: trying to teach those kids sport is just as important as all those electric gizmos! Well, I did until those monsters stormed onto the field and they… I'd rather not talk about that," he scratched his head, "anyway, a few students and I eventually found this factory and Belpois, who could explain to us what was happening, and installed that force field to keep out curious monsters. If they are curious. And as you see, we stayed here." Ulrich nodded._

_"And how's Jeremy doing?" Yumi wondered._

_"Except one tiny thing, everything's fine! Even better now he finally…" Slowly, Jim's voice faded away, and the world around Ulrich started to fade as well. Two beige stains moved forward where Yumi and Jim once walked, until those two stains became part of the black background. Ulrich kept walking until he slumped because of the mosquito-sting from earlier, while a flaming eye of XANA slowly made way towards him. And somewhere, in the distance, Yumi's voice kept asking Ulrich to wake up… _

* * *

"Ulrich, wake up!" Yumi kept repeating, but she didn't succeed in waking him up. She didn't know how long he's been out cold, or how long he had been asleep, but it had been at least from sunrise 'till now, and she knew one thing for sure: he needed this rest. She didn't like waking him up, or to see him this weak, but if they wanted to stay safe, they had to leave now. As far as they could be safe, because they stayed at 5 kilometers away from Kadic. Just close enough to sneak that way and go away without being noticed, and far away enough to flee when the monsters finally realize that they've been at 5 kilometers from the beginning of the invasion. The closer they were, the less XANA expects them there. He was damn dangerous, so nobody would be stupid enough to come that close to them.

Well, all except Yumi and Ulrich, who stayed at that range for good reason.

The answer to the question why they stayed that close to Kadic, is because Yumi's younger brother was in Kadic. He could be dead by now, but she needed to know for sure, and thus they stayed close to the prison. Sometimes they came closer, to search Hiroki between the people. Every time, she had seen him, but he hadn't seen her. Maybe Hiroki thought Yumi was dead, or maybe he still had hope. She couldn't read his facial expression, and could only hope everything was going fine with him.

Then there was the trouble with Ulrich. The mosquito he thought had stung him just before meeting Jeremy and Jim, had been an infected Hornet – or, as it is called by the people, a zombie-fly. Their lasers cause 'infected wounds', which were harder to heal than other laser-wounds. But Ulrich didn't easily let himself be sick, and the wound started to heal, also with help from Yumi, and Jeremy. He only limped now and then, when he thought Yumi couldn't see him. Everything went fine, until they heard how five Kankrelats approached and Ulrich wanted to show Yumi he was fully recovered by taking on the Kankrelats. But, after three Kankrelats, one of them could hit Ulrich – at exactly the same place as the infected Hornet shot him. Seriously, what are the odds? Anyway, Yumi was alarmed by his scream and she took it over, destroying the last two Kankrelats and they ran.

It had been too late by then – Ulrich had been hit in his most sensitive spot, and fell unconscious. She immediately fled with him, and made their camp an hour after the fight, while Ulrich was still raving. Most of the time he was just muttering incomprehensible things, and sometimes she could hear him say her name, or Odd's, or Jeremy's, or Aelita's. It was clear he missed them, or was he seeing them in his dreams? She couldn't tell.

To her surprise, Ulrich opened up his eyes, he blinked a few times, even if the day could almost be called a night, and looked around, as far as he could, lying on the ground.

"Where's Jim?" he asked with a hoarse voice, and Yumi knew he must have gone back to when they first went to the factory, a month ago. When he tried to sit up, Yumi gently pushed him back down – he needed his rest.

"Er… he's gone away, and you need to rest," she repeated when he sat back up, leaning his back against a tree. This should have been part of the city, but it wasn't anymore. Not long after XANA took over France, he expanded it from William/monsters to the nature around the school. Within three weeks, he successfully turned the whole city in some wood-like terrain. Everything, except the canal sides at the factory – he somehow did not do anything there.

Yumi sighed. "If you want to sit so badly, then let me at least take a look at your wound." Ulrich moaned a small protest, but he let her do her work anyway. He let her pull up his pants, and closed his eyes in the meantime. He felt like throwing up, and didn't want to see his wound, so he planned to keep them closed until he felt his pants back onto the wound. He heard Yumi gasp, and so he guessed the wound was looking terrible. Yumi didn't know much about those wounds, but the wound suppurated heavily, and she had nothing to clean, and heal it. And even if she had the right things, she didn't have the knowledge to clean and heal the wound properly.

"How long?" Ulrich wanted to know. She looked at him, surprised, before giving an answer.

"A couple of hours," she said – Yumi knew Ulrich wanted to know how long he'd been knocked out. Or, in his words, how long those dumb, simple Kankrelats were able to humiliate him. And after she told him that, and after she put his pants back to place, Ulrich grabbed the tree and tried to stand up, under Yumi's protests.

"Ulrich, don't! You need to rest!" she told him. This can sound somewhat contradictory to what she said earlier, namely that she wanted to wake him up to move the camp. But in the meantime, Yumi changed her mind because of the newly opened suppurating wound on Ulrich's leg. It looked terrible, and had decided to wait just one night, but Ulrich clearly disagreed.

"We have to go," he said while he leaned against the tree with one hand for stability, and used his other hand to hold his katana and use it like a walking stick. Yumi shook her head.

"What about your health?" Yumi said, but Ulrich already walked away, from tree to tree.

"Safety first!" he said, gritting his teeth. Yumi sighed because of Ulrich's stubbornness. She tried to convince him to stay, but it was to no use. So instead she took all of their stuff, which Ulrich seemed to have forgotten, and followed him. Sometimes she took his arm to help him, but he pulled it away immediately, and Yumi sighed.

She feared his stubbornness could mean his end after a couple of time.

* * *

**Longest flashback so far! Busted! Let's hope Ulrich survives this story. How far will the two go? Will Ulrich push it to the limit? Well, you've got to wait few chapters for the answers of those questions, because next chapter last POVs will be introduced, and who do you think will be next? Any ideas for next events? Next chapter,**** chapter four: ****_How it could end,_**** will be posted on the 16th of January! On with the reviews:**

**Absinok** (Thanks, and every prison has some sort of rebel, so I thought of Hiroki)

**Bluedog197** (Well, thank you reviewing, and now you mentioned it, yes they are! The story has many important things happening at (almost) the same time so I need the several POVs)

**See ya next time!**

**-DutchWriters2**


	5. How It Could End

**Chapter 4: How it could end **

**_... or _...**

**Chapter 4: Aelita's Barrier**

* * *

You could say Jeremy Belpois has had a lot of luck since the beginning of the invasion.

Just before the invasion, he had decided to skip gym class again to go to the lab in the factory, to create a multi agent program to destroy XANA once and for all. So he was the first to know XANA attacked earth with a long planned attack, but he couldn't warn his friends because he forgot to recharge his phone and because XANA locked him up there. Eventually, he could escape, yet he knew it was too late when he arrived at Kadic. He almost got hit by one of the Kankrelats, but he had to admit that, without those monsters, he would have never found Aelita.

Just before Jeremy arrived, Aelita had been shot to unconsciousness. She was lucky he found her before she could be killed, and he took her back to the factory, to a place which could have functioned as the infirmary when people still worked in there. The news about XANA quickly was known all around the world, and Jeremy shut down the supercomputer. It didn't do anything to XANA, who eventually already had taken over France by that time. Not long after this, he installed the force field he created a few weeks ago, in case of emergencies – and this invasion was some serious emergency, he couldn't have monsters in his factory. But he never would've guessed the force field would let people pass, and so Jim, a few students he brought with him, and other refugees who had heard about a safe heaven, could continue their life under Jeremy and Jim's custody.

But soon there were problems, other than the monsters walking around in the city. Like, the problem about the food rations. Luckily, Jim knew what to do about it – he once was a hunter (he'd rather not talk about it). He also knew the basics of cooking a decent meal so they could give everyone at least one meal per day, but the amount of food and drink was always different. Normally, the amount wasn't that big, but enough to live through the day. Also, Aelita's medical situation grew from bad to worse, and eventually they had to place her in an artificial coma, or else she wouldn't survive for sure.

Yet, the biggest surprise came four months into the invasion, when Yumi and Ulrich by accident decided to visit the factory.

* * *

_Jeremy was pacing in his room. He just had visited Aelita again, but she still was in the same situation. It didn't worsen, it didn't get better. Sometimes he wondered if he could just shut down the machine keeping her alive, so that electricity could be used somewhere where it would be more useful. The infirmary could be used as an extra sleeping room for the growing amounts of refugees. And, to be honest, Aelita couldn't be saved, so it might spare her some pain if he just shut the machine down. Too bad the return to the past wouldn't work._

_That's how his head watched the situation, but his heart had a whole other point of view. This was Aelita Stones, the fighter, the princess of Lyoko, she who fought to get to the real world, to break the link between her and XANA. She has – they have – been working too hard and too long to just make an end to it so suddenly. He's known her too long to let her go. Another reason was that Jeremy wouldn't know what to do without Aelita. Every time he felt hopeless again, every time he wanted to end his misery, he visited Aelita and when he left again, he had found the courage to continue. She inspired him, and it was no secret to the refugees that he was in love with her._

_Oh, and Jim was a good friend, too._

_Somebody knocked on his door, getting him out of his thoughts, and Jeremy turned his head, surprised. At this time, just after the sun had risen, nobody needed him. Unless it was a complete emergency, nobody needed him at this hour. Oh no…_

_It was Jim who opened the door, and he walked inside immediately. He hadn't even waited until Jeremy gave permission to come in. Darn it, something must be really wrong. "He, Belpois, I've got someones who wanna talk to you." He stepped aside, and in the port stood two of his friends, Yumi and Ulrich. The two smiled at him, and Jeremy smiled back at them. He was glad that those two had at least survived until now. Not like Aelita, who was put in a coma to survive, and Odd, of who he had no evidence he was alive or dead, but Jeremy was pretty sure he wasn't here anymore. Jeremy decided not to talk about Odd, just in case they didn't know about him._

"_You're alive," Jeremy noticed his voice sounded surprised, unlike the neutral voice he had wanted to use._

"_You too, Einstein," Yumi responded. Jeremy didn't see Odd, which confirmed his deductions. He turned to Ulrich and Yumi. He noticed Ulrich looked a bit paler. Well, that was what could happen after four months out in the woods. Then why wasn't Yumi a bit paler?_

"_Hey, where's Aelita?" Ulrich asked, and Jeremy frowned. He only then realized the two didn't know what happened to her, where she was. He turned to Jim._

"_You didn't tell them?"_

"_I thought they had to hear it form you. 't Is only fair," Jim replied. Jeremy sent a grateful smile towards Jim, before their old PE teacher left. Jeremy did want to tell Yumi and Ulrich what happened, and Jim had thought of it. Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other… nope, they didn't know what happened to Aelita at all. Jeremy breathed in deeply, before bringing them the news. Alright, here goes nothing…_

"_Aelita… she's attacked during the invasion. When I found her, she was… we were almost too late, but we could safe her. Sort of." Yumi and Ulrich had listened carefully, of which Jeremy was grateful for, when he explained it with difficulty. He only knew how bad the situation was when he just talked about it, but it would probably always be a painful topic. The two friends nodded in understanding, as if they just found out they lost one of their best friends. For a moment, he wanted to ask about Odd, but eventually, he didn't. He couldn't._

"_Well, where is she now?" Yumi wanted to know, and Jeremy sighed. He didn't want to just tell them, they wouldn't know what place he meant. He knew they wouldn't be able to find it._

"_I'd better show you," he said, and he lead them out of his room, to the infirmary, to Aelita. Yumi and Ulrich silently followed. There were a lot of questions he wanted – he needed – to be answered: where Odd was, how they were doing, where they've been all those time, what brought them here, if they noticed Ulrich's wound on his leg, how Hiroki was doing… he shook all those questions off of him. He knew they would be answered by the course of time._

_Then, he abruptly stopped, and the two bumped into him. They were here – the infirmary. His trembling hand made way to the door knob, and he touched the cold metal. He wondered why it took him so long to open it, when it usually went so easily. That's when he noticed he was nervous. How would Ulrich and Yumi take the situation? Would they blame him for not finding anything yet? He quickly pushed away that feeling – for now, it was easier not to feel than to feel – and opened the door._

_Ulrich stood there, as if he were stunned, and Yumi practically ran towards Aelita, who was placed in the middle of the room. Jeremy calmly walked towards to Aelita, and finally Ulrich seemed to move again. Jeremy didn't really come any closer – he visited Aelita almost every day, and gave Ulrich and Yumi the space to stay next to her._

"_How did this happen?" Ulrich wanted to know. Jeremy shrugged._

"_I… don't really know. But I do know that if the machine gets shut down, she'll die. She… if she hadn't gotten back to Kadic earlier, this wouldn't have happened," as Jeremy continued, it became harder not to feel anything as guilt took control, "If I didn't let her go back… If I just got there sooner… If I saw this attack sooner, she would… If I were just a little faster… I'm –" he got cut off by Yumi._

"_This isn't your fault, Jeremy," But Jeremy shook his head. Off course this was his fault. He was the one to blame, the only one._

"_No, it is. I was here when it began. I could have…" And again, he got interrupted._

"_This is XANA's fault, Jeremy, not yours," Jeremy wanted to go against that, but Ulrich wouldn't let him, "We can still stop him, avenge Aelita. We can still win from him. We'll make him pay." It seemed impossible to change Ulrich's thoughts, looking so confident about his opinion. And yet, Jeremy shivered. Ulrich had talked about Aelita as if she were already dead – like there was no hope for her. But he shut his mouth about that._

_Oh yeah, that's right! He had a small surprise for them! He couldn't remember when he created them, or how he got the idea. The point was he had made them, and could give his creations to Yumi and Ulrich – they could use them. He walked to the closest closet (why did he put them away in that closet?) and opened the doors, and surprised Yumi and Ulrich again. Not by opening the doors, but by what's inside – two tessen fans and a samurai sword. Their Lyoko weapons. Jeremy took the three weapons, and handed them over to their new owners, who were astonished._

"_Wow…" that's all they could say. It was an understatement to say they were impressed. Jeremy had, on his own, recreated their weapons, who looked exactly like their Lyoko equivalents, even if Jeremy had never seen those weapons before. Yumi and Ulrich inspected them for at least three minutes, before Yumi turned to Jeremy and he sent her a shy smile._

"_How did you…" This time, it was Yumi who got interrupted by Jeremy._

"_That doesn't matter. I figured that, with XANA controlling the whole world but the USA, you might need them in the future." For now, he hadn't launched an attack on the USA yet, but it would most likely happen soon enough. Knowing XANA, he could be attacking the last independent country on earth already. And Yumi nodded – it was logical he would give it to them when the world needed them._

"_Er," Jeremy began, just remembering something else, "If you two would stay, we'd really appreciate it. We could use some good fighters like you two. But the choice is all yours to make, off course." Yumi and Ulrich had their doubts, like Jeremy predicted. Jeremy waited patiently for their answer. It took them five minutes to decide they would rather keep travelling around the city. Even though it was sad they didn't stay, Jeremy respected their decision and carefully watched how the two tested their weapons by destroying the Kankrelats and Hornets swarming around the force field. _

_Just before they disappeared out of sight, Jeremy wondered how they still couldn't have seen Ulrich was wounded all those time._

* * *

"Belpois." Somebody called him. In his thoughts, the young boy moaned. _No, _he thought, _just a few more minutes._ People needed their sleep, even if they didn't keep a refugee's camp running in an environment completely useless for said refugees. "Belpois!" the voice called out again. Jeremy was too tired to identify the voice. It was a big chance it was Jim, but it could also be somebody else. He moaned – why wouldn't the person just let him sleep? He'd better not moaned at all. "BELPOIS!" this time the person had screamed, and right in Jeremy's ear. Jeremy shot up and fell of the chair – yep, he'd fallen asleep during his work again. He rubbed with his hand over his head and then turned his head towards Jim.

Off course it was Jim. He was the only one who wanted to – or had to – talk to Jeremy.

"What is it now, Jim?" Jeremy asked, oppressing a yawn. Last few days he'd been trying to find a way to get the supercomputer working without giving XANA his old and most powerful weapon back. And every time he started, something else would occupy him. He wanted to keep up the force field, he wanted to give Aelita her life back, he wanted to protect and fed the refugees under his custody, and, off course, he wanted to defeat XANA. Too bad he couldn't fix all at once.

"To begin with the worst, two more have… you know what I mean," Jim started, "and also, we're almost out of food again. And, er, three of those crab-thingies passed the bridge. They were keeping their distance, but I suppose Dunbar's getting suspicious of this place." For Jim, it was always crab-thingies, flying creatures, or creeper-thingies (Kankrelats, no real Creepers) and he normally used 'Dunbar' to say he's talking about XANA, because it sounded more defeatable. And that's not even a real word. Anyways, just before Jim wanted to leave again, he turned back to Jeremy.

"We really need to give the force field more power," Jeremy turned back to his PE teacher.

"What?"

"We don't know what'll happen, Belpois. Those crab-thingies were seen much more than this, you know it. Maybe Dunbar will attack with these, and then? We know the force field can hod those flying creatures and the creeper-thingies, but we don't know if it'll hold the crab-thingies." Jim's got a point. It could stand with ease against Kankrelats or Hornets, but will it be able to exist if a Krab, or even a Blok, tried to take it down? Jeremy thought about it, and noted down his ideas – he didn't want to use anything electronic, just in case – and then he turned back to Jim.

"We could just feed the force field with more energy, but…" Jim sighed – 'but' normally meant the idea was 'impossible', "but all available energy is being used elsewhere. The lights, the warming system, the cooking fires…"

"Miss Stones?" Jim guessed, and Jeremy's cheeks went from the normal color to tomato red. Yes, he'd thought about Aelita too, but he hadn't mentioned her because it would sound like he found her more important than the force field keeping all of them alive, for now. And Jim thought a force field was way more important than some teenage girl.

"Belpois, we _need_ that energy," Jim insisted, trying not to come over too uncaring. Yes, he'd rather see Aelita alive than dead, but he also didn't want to see the energy was wasted to her. In her situation, she was as good as dead, so they'd better use her energy to feed the force field protecting a small hundred people. They would shut down her machine and mourn her, seeing as she somehow gave her life for those of others. They could call the force field "Aelita's Barrier", and live through this barrier – at least as an elf with pink hair who died protecting the humans from her arch enemy.

Try and explain that to the boy madly in love with her.

Jeremy shook his head. Taking energy from Aelita's machine… no, he wouldn't let Jim. He wanted to protect her, to love her, give her the chance to live again. If they shut down the machine and Jeremy would stumble upon something that could have saved her life, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He did not want to lose Aelita already.

"But not her energy," Jeremy said, "take some from something else." Jim shrugged.

"From where? Not the warming system, we'll freeze. Not the light, we'll be blinded. Certainly not the force field, we'll die. Belpois, we waste energy to her, and you know it. If we took away just a…"

"I said no," Jeremy said harshly, "not Aelita's." Jim sighed – man, Belpois really could be stubborn!

"So one life is more important?" Jim snapped, "One life is more important than a hundreds of them? You would risk hundreds of lives to safe hers?" the expression on Jeremy's face confirmed that Jim had been right, too. _Jim doesn't know, _Jeremy thought, _he doesn't understand how important she is. _If a tower would be activated, Aelita is the only one who can deactivate it. Then, they needed Aelita. He didn't understand how useful she could be. _How much she means to us. How much she means to me._

Apparently, Jim understood what Jeremy went through – he wanted to help, and at the same time safe Aelita. A very hard choice, he knew; one which killed you from guilt either way. He put a comforting arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Listen, Jeremy," the computer wizard looked up when Jim called him by his first name, "I just want the best for all. Why not stay on middle ground? Just… just half of her energy, okay? A part for Stones, another part for the force field. Wha do you say?" Jeremy thought about that. He would be taking a big risk. The force field would grow a bit stronger, but what would happen to Aelita? Would she survive? Would the machine stop working if half of the energy was taken away? What would Aelita do in his position? The last question came totally unexpected, but was the only question he could immediately answer, she would take the risk. _And if I would die, she'd know that at least she tried._

With a small nod, Jeremy confirmed he agreed on Jim's idea and next morning rumor had it that Jeremy Belpois gave part of the energy original for his girlfriend Aelita Stones to the force field, which they started to call Aelita's Barrier from then on, with a bit of help from Jim's part.

* * *

**Aw, poor Jeremy... And now the force field is called Aelita's Barrier. ****Will Jeremy find a way to safe Aelita's life? When will Jim realise he's a better leader than Jeremy is (at the moment?) Will Aelita's Barrier stand long? Whaddya think will happen next? Well, we get back to Sissi within a week, so stay tuned. C****hapter five: _Would you forgive me?_****_,_**** will be posted on the 23th of January! On with the reviews:**

**Bluedog197** (Wow, you've got some serious ideas, mister! And yes, there will be a twist, but I don't tell you what kind of, and how big/small the impact is. You'll have to find out in one of the future chapters)

**See ya next time!**

**-DutchWriters2**


	6. Would you forgive me?

**Chapter 5: Would you forgive me?**

* * *

Sissi felt like she was flying.

It felt like her soul was leaving her body, and made a trip down memory lane, where she could find a lot of good memories, which were slowly being pushed away by the visions she had seen the past few months of the invasion.

This time, memory lane ran down towards Kadic Academy. She slided in fast forward towards the sport-fields, miraculously not hitting any bush or tree that could have blocked her way. She floated in the middle of the sport-fields, and the environment changed. Fences grew around the school grounds, people appeared out of nowhere, mindlessly walking around, and monsters crawled over the once so silent grounds. And Sissi herself noticed she was being pulled toward the ground by gravity.

Before she knew it, she stood with her two feet on the ground again, with all other prisoners in the fenced sport-fields. It still was kind of hot outside, which meant it should be summer – very odd weather for the situation the people were in. the well-known feeling of hunger returned, and and she felt in her throat she needed to drink something.

Sissi looked around, and found nothing out of the ordinary. Monsters everywhere, traitors being scolded, people – innocent people – being taken away for unknown reasons. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary. Which made her notice…

Where was Nicholas? He had said half an hour ago he had to do something important, and he still hadn't returned. Sissi began to doubt. Was he, by any chance, the next one? No, not Nicholas! Without him, Sissi didn't have anyone else who could take care of her. She wouldn't quickly say it, but she couldn't survive her on her own. Nobody except Nicholas wanted to stay with her, because she was still the daughter of the principal, who was still missing. And because she could be the possible next one.

A loud gong made all few conversations fall silent, and everybody (including Sissi) looked up, expectantly. The biggest of the two air-monsters of XANA – she thought they were called Mantas – were circling around in the air, and let a lot of crates fall down onto the sport-fields. Everyone waited until all crates have reached the ground before they ran towards them as quick as possible. Sissi had to do this as well, or else she wouldn't eat for the second day in a row. She was hoping Nicholas would get some food somewhere, too.

After a total of five minutes the peace returned, with the exceptions of a few fights, which were quickly stopped by traitors and Kankrelats. Then, Sissi looked at what she could grab from the pile of fallen food, and she was at least glad she had something. She held a can with sardines and a can with peach, two things she didn't really like to eat, but it was better than nothing. You ate what you got, or you didn't eat at all. It was also a tip not to make a fire to warm it: there were no materials to do so, and if you did succeed, you had one minute before a Megatank rolled over it. So everything would be eaten raw, it not being warm, and with no sauces. Food poisoning was not uncommon.

She hoped Nicholas caught some good cans of food. The two of them shared their food, to eat something more varied, to survive longer in the slave camp, where at least one person per day died. Could be anything: naturally or killed. She looked around until she saw the tall boy with the red hair approaching her. Sissi sighed in relief. Nicholas. She herself also came closer towards 'the tall boy'. She tried her best not to hug him – it still felt weird to make contact like that. He smiled at her.

"What did you get?" She showed him the two cans, and he nodded. Luckily she didn't grab something that looked like dog food. He himself did got some food as well, something that was worth the name 'meal', unlike most of the meals they had now. Sissi tried to look behind Nicholas' back, where he hid the meal from her for now. Not that anybody would try and steal it from him, not after that small accident with Emily. He'd rather not think about it.

"C'mon Nicholas, don't be so childish, what have you got?" He took a deep breath and took the pot from behind his back so Sissi could see it. The pot contained a heated meal, just meat and potatoes. In his pocket he kept two spoons and forks, and he smirked when Sissi's jaw dropped. There was practically no warm food to find in the whole prison, and no traitor would want to share food – their food – with the miserable prisoners. Nicholas took one fork and spoon, and handed them over to Sissi, while he kept the other two in his hand. Sissi didn't ask where he got it – for the moment, she ate. She soon forgot her peaches and sardines.

It didn't take too long before it was completely empty, and their stomachs had been satisfied. That warm meal had done them good. It hadn't been that warm after all, but that didn't really matter. She noticed Nicholas let her eat more than him, but he always let her. He didn't mind it, though. He naturally didn't really eat much. A few minutes after enjoying their first warm meal in months, Sissi turned towards her only friend and started to glare at him.

"Where did you get this meal?" she wanted to know. Nicholas cleared his throat, a sign that he was either nervous or rather wouldn't talk. Sissi guessed both. Before she could repeat her question, a loud yell was heard over the field. Most prisoners ignored it – come on, lately there's at least one yell/scream a day – but Sissi and Nicholas turned around anyway. The poor unfortunate boy was being brought away by a few monsters (Kankrelats/Bloks), away to the Captain of Punishments, while the boy kept screaming that they got the wrong one. Sissi noticed Milly, Hiroki and their two friends hadn't been too far away from the boy. This made Sissi glare even harder at Nicholas.

"You tried to bust Hiroki?" she continued with anger in her voice. Hiroki and Sissi had never spoken one word to each other, but were connected by Sissi's anger for Yumi, and didn't really know each other. Sissi still felt responsible for the boy. And Milly. And Nicholas. And the poor unfortunate boy. And everybody who once found a home at Kadic. She still hadn't found her father, and already prepared for the worst. Without Jean-Pierre, Sissi was the closest they had to a leader. She, and the young Ishiyama boy.

"No. just someone who looks like him," Nicholas said, bending the truth. Yes, he thought Hiroki as a rebel, but he never used any names. And by accident this boy resembled Hiroki. And Nicholas tried not to use the word 'Japanese', because Hiroki would know, so he instead told them the boy looked 'Chinese'. He'd thought they would get he tried to bust Hiroki, but apparently, they hadn't. "I didn't know his name," Sissi still glared at him.

"That doesn't give you the right to bust him!" she sneered at him. He didn't flinch, but she knew she must have hurt him. She saw it in his eyes, and his almost unchanging position, and for now she let him think she hadn't noticed.

Nicholas, who had been building up his self-confidence, was once again intimidated by Sissi Delmas, something that last happened few weeks ago. He didn't understand why she was now so suddenly angry with him. He could survive by asking himself this question: what would Sissi do? Until now, it had always worked.

His gaze caught a glimpse of one of the traitors,. Quick and efficient, he placed himself between Sissi and the traitor. He held her back by a protective arm, and glared at the traitor. Sissi thought this was a way for Nicholas to convince her, so she turned around to say something about his behavior, and eventually saw him. The traitor Nicholas had seen only seconds before her, protecting her from the traitor, who currently did nothing.

Herve Pichon.

Sissi didn't understand how Herve could have done this. His gaze now caught Sissi and Nicholas, now almost with no emotion, where it would always have a small glimpse of emotion in it in the past. Sissi's eyes went to the sign that had been sewed on his uniform – the same eye present on each monster or human serving XANA. Which confirmed Herve was being trusted fully by XANA.

Sissi hated him.

After a few minutes, Herve simply walked away. Sissi noticed he didn't wear a gun, unlike the others. Not that he needed one. He was the Captain of Punishments, the dude who hanged the Gauthier siblings as his first official deed – nobody dared touching him, afraid of the punishment following it. Nicholas dropped his defensive position when he couldn't see Herve anymore, and sighed. He should never trust the boy anymore. And he wouldn't let the traitor hurt Sissi, either.

And to be honest, he also tried to protect Herve from himself. Even if he didn't know how.

* * *

Sissi woke up fairly quickly, just a bit different than she had thought. Instead of the silence she had expected, she heard how Herve was fighting with Nicholas. She opened her eyes and saw how Herve and Nicholas stressed their arguments with wilde motions with their arms, while both of them yelled to get the right to speak. They did not notice Sissi had woken up.

"…me, she's in a perfect state," Herve shouted.

"She's pale, and you call that a perfect state?" Nicholas retorted.

"She just fainted!

"That's no excuse, Pichon!"

"of course it is, she worried about you!"

"She's always been pale, just don't blame her health!"

"But I don't!"

"Yes, you do! If you had taken care of her properly, she wouldn't be this pale!" Nicholas sneered. Sometimes Sissi wished Nicholas would just forgive Herve. Herve only did what he needed to survive, even if he worked for the virus to do so. But Nicholas didn't want to hear excuses, and stayed overprotective for Sissi, and couldn't get rid of his hate towards Herve. Sissi cleared her throat, and the boys turned to the sound.

"First of all, she can talk for herself," her throat was and her voice hoarse, "Secondly, what are you now fighting about?" They shouldn't be fighting. It would be better to wait with fighting until after the invasion. Too bad the fighting involved the invasion and everything bad that came from it.

"You bruised yourself when you fell, and you're quite pale. Conclusion: we need to throw Herve out of the group." Sissi sighed, and Herve thoughtfully didn't say anything.

"No, we don't."

"But he…"

"…helped us out of Kadic and kept us alive. We won't send him away." Nicholas looked dissapointed and mad, and Herve was relieved and greatful. And that was the end of this fight – if either of them would begin about it again, they would get no food.

Talking about food, immediately after she could stop this unnecessary fight, she prepared their lucnh. A bit of what they took with them from Kadic, plus the fish Nicholas had caught. Sissi was greatful her father taught her how to cook, for if she were ever to be home alone. It was silent during the preparation of the meal and when eating it. Sometimes one of them looked up, to one of the other two. None had a reason to talk: Nicholas didn't want his words used against him by the traitor, Sissi didn't have much to say and Herve was silent because he was afraid Nicholas would attack him verbally again. If you need an uncomfortable silence, you're good.

It began when Herve absolutely wanted to move the camp. "Trust me, it would be better to go. They won't find us." Eventually, Sissi could convnce Nicholas to stop protesting and to just follow Herve. It wasn't really pleasant Nicholas still did not trust whatever Herve did and said – his back still wasn't fully healed, the reason he cursed and insulted Herve. If Sissi wouldn't be here, Nicholas would simply leave his ex best friend in the middle of the night, or just try and suffocate him in the night. Without her, Herve was as good as dead.

They were walking for a few hours now, with small deflection to the left. Sissi looked around – why did every tree look like the other one? – but soon decided to just look ahead, where they were walking. She did not recognize the place, and it really did not matter to her where they were, as long as they were safe. She thought that all trees looked like one another anyways.

This wasn't the case for Nicholas. He took in every detail, and sometimes even noticed the eye of XANA. It was impossible, because they were fleeing from the virus, but it could happen. The virus did have had the power to create this forest in three weeks. The eyes Nicholas saw were imprinted in the mud lightly, almost invisible for the human eye. Some were more clear than others, and Nicholas kept an eye out for them. After half an hour extra observation of the environment, the redhead made his conclusion.

"We're walking in circles," he said, breaking the silence and their walk. His friend and the traitor turned to him; Sissi clearly was surprised, but he couldn't identify the look on Herve's face.

"What do you mean?" Herve stuttered.

"This is the third time we pass this," Nicholas clarified, "after the second time, I was wondering if we hadn't come here earlier. Now, this is the third time I see it, and now I know it for sure. Why do we walk around in circles?" He questioned Herve, making very clear he does not like the traitor.

"I didn't notice," Herve said without hesitation, "If I had known…"

"What are you planning now, Pichon?" Nicholas didn't even give him the time to explain.

"Excuse me?" Herve set one step back, to be sure his old friend wouldn't hurt him.

"I know you're planning something. In can feel it in my gut. And my gut is always right, coming to danger." His 'rival' shook his head.

"One time, it was wrong, when we…"

"That was an exception!" Nicholas exclaimed, "What are you planning? Tell me, or I'll make you!" Luckily Sissi came between them before the redhead would take out his anger on Herve, who looked tragically desperate now.

"I'm telling you, I don't!" A few seconds of silence followed, after which Herve continued with on a softer tone, "But if I was, and I had to do it against my will, would you forgive me?" the look in Nicholas' eyes told him that he would never forgive him, because of what happened. Never… Maybe Sissi would, depending on what 'crime' he had committed.

Suddenly, Herve blasted with his back against a nearby tree, his feet a few inches above the ground, being held in this very uncomfortable position by the boy who put him in that position, namely Nicholas. It didn't seem a very peaceful thing.

"What have you done!?" Nicholas' voice sounded calm, yet so venomous. Herve didn't answer, didn't get the chance to answer.

"Nicholas, put him down!" Sissi shouted.

"But he…" Just do it, dork! You know better than just to make conclusions about someone who might have done nothing," the ginger let Herve fall down, "Besides, it's not good for your back!" Sissi added, while helping Herve getting up. Nicholas sighed.

"Nothing's good for my back nowadays," he groaned, to shut up a long time after that. The line separating him and Herve had increased, and the only thing Sissi could do about it, is try to stop them as quick as possible. And this line wouldn't disappear soon.

* * *

**And Nicholas is alright, though bit suspicious. How long will he stand Herve's presence? WHat great secret does Herve carry? Or does he just feel guilty because they're outlaws and being hunted down because of him?**** Whaddya think will happen next? Next week we have a small talk with Hiroki, as you can read in c****hapter six: _Would you love me?_****_,_**** which will be posted on the 30th of January! On with the reviews:**

**Bluedog197** (Well, I really appreciate the help, so thank you for that. Yet, the part with Aelita is in this story quite impossible, as Jeremy refuses to start up the supercomputer, and thus refuses to give XANA his ultimate weapon back)

**See ya next time!**

**-DutchWriters2**


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